News : Against The Grain Festival put on hold for a year

Adelaide’s Against The Grain festival organisers Lee Gardiner and Jason North have announced that the festival will be taking a hiatus this year. This time off will give both men time to work on their respective bands (Double Dragon, Truth Corroded) albums and upcoming national/international tours. The pair commented…

“The rapid rise and growth of Against The Grain has changed the way we deal with, and run the Against The Grain Metal Festival. Obviously with its reputation now of being the biggest All Day All Australian Metal Festival in Australia, we are now obliged to give the Australian Metal Community something insanely special, to keep with the tradition of making each years instalment, bigger, and badder than its predecessor. To do this we need a year off. We need to explore ways to fit more people in, get more bands, and let the dust settle a little to make sure that the next Against The Grain Festival is something incredibly special. International bands? Outside / Multiple Venues perhaps? 100 bands? All Adelaide Venues Involved to make it like the Adelaide Festival / Fringe ? Sounds crazy, but this is where we feel the festival can go, and to do something this crazy, we need a lot of time to plan this thing, get sponsors, and make sure all the metal bands in Australia can get down to Adelaide to destroy it once and for all.

Also, Double Dragon and Truth Corroded have new albums to deliver in 2010. With Double Dragon spending the bulk of last year touring Australia and Truth Corroded touring across Australia / Asia, we both need some extra months to knuckle down and devote some time into the bands we sing for. With the increased pressure of deadlines, touring, and now international releases and tours on the horizon, the time has come for both camps to knuckle down and deliver 2 albums that have our complete and utter attention and dedication.

So In short… Against The Grain 6 won’t be happening this year. ATG5 was pretty much the most insane and diverse line up of Australian metal the country has seen for a long time, and to top it, we need to do something remarkable, and that is going to take some time, and some brainstorming. Apologies to those of you who have looked forward to ATG every year, but by doing this we are ensuring that the event will only get bigger in the years to come.

But to keep with the theme of us hosting an ALL DAY, ALL AGES metal event in September, and with Lee having his 30th Birthday this year, we have decided to bring you a one off special event – Leroy’s 30th” September 11, @ Fowlers Live. Smaller than last years ATG but a hell of a lot more rowdier This years event will be a party, and a celebration of the friendships made across Australia in the metal community, and we expect all metal loving Australian’s to be in Adelaide, September 11 2010 for a metal party like no other, complete with balloons and hopefully.. midgets!

Thanks,

Lee & Jason
ATG Festival“